It Started with a Book
by hhooppyy
Summary: A companion piece to 'Keeping Up with the Castles'. A look at how it all started from Rick's POV


A/N: In thinking about what to write for the next chapter of Keeping up with the Castles I thought that it might be interesting to see how the story starts from Rick's POV so I wrote this.

This chapter is for NCISchick, hope you like it.

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><p>As it was the last night before school started for another year, Rick had agreed to take his daughters out for ice cream as a way of saying good bye to summer. With two blocks to go, Chloe, his youngest, reached up and grabbed the back of his shirt.<p>

"Daddy! Can we pwease go in the bookstore?"

Looking down, Rick found himself staring into the expressive face of his daughter, which now bore the saddest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen.

Unable to resist her, Rick agreed to a quick stop in the bookstore.

Once inside, five minutes quickly led to ten and before he knew it he found himself seated in a big blue beanbag chair in the children's section with Chloe on his lap and Alexis sitting on the floor next to him reading Where the Wild Things Are. With an ease that came from practice, Rick started reading the book out loud. When they reached the part where Max met the monster, instead of reading the words on the page, Rick and Alexis both started acting the part of the monsters.

"Rawr." Alexis yelled as she curled her fingers like claws and reached up to tickle Chloe. "I'm going to get you."

Letting out a shriek of laughter, Chloe quickly climbed out of Rick's lap and ran as fast as her little legs would carry her away from him and Alexis. Weaving in and out of the aisles between bookshelves, Chloe ran until she thought she was safe. Unbeknownst to her, Rick had been following her movements quite closely.

"Boo!" Rick yelled as he snuck up behind Chloe as she sat behind a bookshelf trying to catch her breath.

With an ear-splitting scream that had Rick covering his ear, Chloe was up and running again. Once again giving chase Rick saw the pink and blonde blur that was his daughter turn and run down another aisle. Turning a couple second after her, Rick went barreling towards where he knew his daughter had gone. With only a couple feet to spare, Rick pulled up short when he saw that Chloe had barricaded herself behind the legs of another customer—a beautiful woman with wavy auburn hair that flowed down past her shoulder who was wearing a professional looking suit and standing in a protective stance over his daughter with all the fierceness of a mother lion protecting her cub.

Holding his hands up, curled like claws, Rick pulled a 'scary' monster face trying to defuse the situation.

"Chloe, you know the rules. No using strangers as protection from the 'monsters'"

With a quick pause to think about the rule, Chloe quickly found a loophole and looked up towards the face of the woman who was protecting her.

"Hi! My name is Chloe. What's yours?"

With no hesitation, the woman responded without taking her eyes off of Rick.

"Kate."

Knowing that she had found a loophole, Chloe turned her attention back to Rick and with a smug smile declared, "Daddy, this is Kate. See, she isn't a stranger."

As Chloe made her declaration, Rick noticed that Alexis was slowly sneaking up behind Chloe. In an attempt to conceal her action, Rick stood there with a thoughtful expression on his face as he pretended to contemplate that statement forcing Chloe and Kate to watch him while they waited for a response.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Alexis sped up in her approach and soon had Chloe within her reach. As soon as Alexis started tickling her, Chloe let out a loud, high-pitched squeal which quickly devolved into laughter.

Watching the scene play out, Rick couldn't help but notice that when Chloe squealed Kate had jumped slightly and immediately gone on the defensive, quickly scanning the area for threats. Clearly unsure about what she should do with the new arrival, Kate stood stock still—_Chloe acted like she knew the other girl, but should she break them up_?

Seeing her reaction, Rick quickly picked up the book that she had dropped when he had come flying around the corner after Chloe. Looking down, Rick couldn't help but notice that it was his latest book, Storm Fall. With the book in his hand, Rick reached out towards Kate and tried to grab her attention.

"Hi. I'm Richard Castle… that redhead over there is my daughter Alexis and the little rug rat is my other daughter, Chloe, who, it would appear, you have already met."

At the introduction, Kate relaxed slightly realizing that the young girl wasn't in any immediate danger. As she accepted the book from his outstretched hand, she formally introduced herself. "Kate. Kate Beckett."

Looking past Kate, Rick called the girls over.

"Alexis. Chloe. Come say hi to Miss Beckett here."

"Hello Miss Beckett," the girls quickly chimed as they came over towards them.

"Pleased to meet you girls, but please, call me Kate."

"Now that my girls have been properly introduced, I think that it is time to bid you adieu and let you get back to your evening while the girls and I head out for ice cream. I would ask you to join us as payment for the inconvenience of being used as a human shield, but it looks like you have other plans."

After a quick pause, Rick couldn't help but add with a charming smile, "Of course, those plans appear to be with me…well, with my book anyways, so wouldn't you rather go out with the _real deal_ and get ice cream with us?"

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea." As Rick watched, Kate slowly tilted her head to the side as a twinkle appeared in her eyes and she gently bit her lower lip before continuing. "As you said, I have a hot date tonight. Bubble bath…Wine…and… you. " As she spoke those final words, the expression on her face changed and became more predatory as she punctuated each word with a step towards Rick.

Watching her approach, Rick couldn't help but be enthralled by the sinewy grace of her steps. With each step she took, Rick leaned slightly more forward drawn in by her actions until his face was mere inches from hers.

Suddenly, with a smirk, Kate pulled her head back and turned around leaving a stunned Rick in her wake.

Snapping out of the trance that Kate had put him in, Rick looked up to see a blushing Kate standing with a hint of shock on her face as Chloe hugged her legs and trained her little blue eyes on Kate and gave a small pout.

"Thank you for trying to protect me from the monsters and being nice to me. You were the best human shield ever. Won't you _pwease_ come to ice cream with us? _Pwease_?"

Seeing this act, Rick couldn't help but be proud of his little girl as she skillfully manipulated the beauty in from of him.

Noticing the accusing look on Kate's face, Rick hid the pride he felt for his daughter and innocently shrugged before offering an explanation.

"That is all her. I believe her grandmother has been training her well."

Rick once again looked at his daughter and noticed that she had upped her game by adding puppy dog eyes to the mix. _Kate doesn't stand a chance_.

"Well, how could I say no to that? I guess I can come get some ice cream with you."

_And there it is_.

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><p>AN: For now, this is just a one-shot. I could do more, but I really need to know what you guys think about that. I would not do every chapter from Rick's POV, but if there was some aspect of the story/a particular chapter that you would want to see from his side I would definitely be willing to do that. If you don't want to see any more of these, please, tell me that too. I won't know unless you tell me.


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